Uk politics

Downing Street always knew tomorrow's gay marriage vote was going to provoke tensions. But what's interesting is how unsure Number 10 is about how to approach the free vote on the issue. The whips are not supposed to get involved on these votes, and besides a number of those normally twisting colleagues' arms to extract some loyalty are considering voting against the bill. But there are around 50 Tories whose votes will mean the difference between a Conservative majority for the legislation. Even though David Cameron is, as James explained in his column yesterday, personally committed to the legislation as a matter of principle, finding himself in the minority of his own party will dent his modernising zeal.

Tony Blair usually grows rather awkward when asked about the current direction of the Labour party under Ed Miliband. Clearly afraid of appearing a backseat driver, the former Prime Minister tries as hard as he can to avoid delivering any kind of verdict, other than a vaguely supportive bundle of words. He certainly did the latter in his interview on Marr this morning, but Blair also made some important points about how crucial this year will be for Labour. He said: 'So I understand the Labour party message. And by the way, what Ed’s trying to do is tougher than what I had to do. When I became Labour leader, we’d lost four elections. This is attempting to bounce back and win after a heavy defeat.

Another day, another confusing briefing about public spending. Yesterday Downing Street got itself into a lather over defence spending. Today it's pensioner benefits. The Independent's story that the Lib Dems would only consent to further welfare cuts in the 2015/16 spending review if the Tories were prepared to cut pensioner benefits came up at the Number 10 Lobby briefing this morning. The Downing St spokeswoman said: 'We've done an awful lot to help pensioners but, clearly, speaking generally there are some difficult decisions to be made and the Treasury is leading on the spending review for 2015/16. The Prime Minister stands by what he set out in the Coalition Agreement.

It's the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice this week, so perhaps it's the passionate letter from Darcy to Elizabeth that's inspired such an enthusiastic burst of letter-writing from Conservative MPs complaining about stories in the press today. Earlier, we had Jake Berry complaining to the BBC, and now there are more. Sadly, the latest missives I've got hold of from Harriett Baldwin don't contain declarations of love, or any insults for the recipient's mother: instead, Baldwin is angry about an article by Ed Miliband in today's Sun. Plugging his party's policy for every big firm receiving a government contract to train young people, the Labour leader writes: 'Among the major European countries, we are in the relegation zone when it comes to youth unemployment.

What a lot of fun William Hague had this afternoon in the Commons as he opened a debate tabled by the Prime Minister on Europe. 'I have not yet exhausted the list of the Coalition's achievements,' he told an MP trying to intervene. His speech was rather like a slow motion version of the PM's address last week, but with words like 'subsidiarity' added in for good measure, and a longer tour of how wonderfully robust the Tory party is on Europe. Though some Tory MPs made their own thoughts on the referendum clear (James Clappison called for legislation in this parliament for a referendum in the next, and Bill Cash said he'd rather the plebiscite take place before the European elections), the focus was on poking fun at the Labour party: a rare moment of Coalition unity.